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Uncertainty Surrounds Next Year’s Ironman

Mary Beth Ellis won the women’s division of the first Ironman U.S. Championship in New York. Registration for next year has stopped.Credit
Craig Ruttle/Associated Press

New York City’s first Ironman may be its last.

Two days after Saturday’s inaugural Ironman United States Championship — which was overshadowed by a water-contamination scare and the death of a participant — race officials suspended registration for the 2013 event. Citing complex logistics and a sizable increase in participation fees, Shane Facteau, the vice president for North American operations for Ironman, said the company was debating whether to terminate the race.

“At this point, nothing is off the table,” Facteau said. “We’re going to look at this event and make sure we can give value to the customer and not at an exorbitant price point.”

Facteau said the company would give refunds to registrants for the 2013 race, which involves a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run, but would hold their spots should the event go off. Facteau said a decision would be reached in four to six weeks.

Registration for the 2013 New York City race opened Sunday at 8 a.m. Athletes who logged onto the race’s registration Web site saw that the fee had jumped to $1,200 from $895 this year. Race officials declined to say how many participants registered for 2013, but Facteau confirmed the event did not sell out. When Ironman announced the New York City race in 2011, all 2,500 spots sold out online in 11 minutes.

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Standard registration fees for Ironman races in the United States range from $500 to $700.

Facteau said the organization had other issues to weigh beyond the fee increase. New York City’s ordinance against amplified noise after 10 p.m. meant slower participants finished in relative silence. Saturday’s hot and humid weather also was a common complaint among participants.

Should it disappear, the New York City race would be the highest-profile Ironman to fold. In 2002, the organization called off its Ironman in Provo, Utah, after a swimmer drowned during the swim. That race was held in whipping wind that caused rough water conditions. Facteau said the death of a swimmer Saturday did not cause the suspension of registration. Race officials would not confirm the participant’s name, but multiple news reports Monday identified him as the senior police officer Andy Naylor, 43, of the Hong Kong Criminal Intelligence Bureau.

John Korff, the local event director for the New York City Ironman race, said economics would ultimately decide the race’s fate. Korff would not divulge the race’s expenses, but he said the cost of renting seven ferries, building a swimming platform and closing down the Palisades Parkway easily made the event the Ironman’s most cost-prohibitive race.

“We dreamed big, and I think we did as good a job as you could do in this complex market,” Korff said. “But just because everybody thinks it’s awesome doesn’t mean you can do it again.”

A version of this article appears in print on August 15, 2012, on Page B15 of the New York edition with the headline: Uncertainty Surrounds Next Year’s Ironman. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe